In Their Own Words: Trapped After a Car Crash | 1

Against The Odds

Wondery

Mike Corey, Dolby, Cassie De Pecol, Society & Culture, Dolby Atmos, Atmos, History

4.7 • 7.2K Ratings

🗓️ 2 December 2025

⏱️ 38 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In December of 2023, Matt Reum spun off a freeway in Indiana to avoid something in the road. His pickup truck rolled down a hill and landed under a bridge where no one could see him. Matt spent the next six days – including Christmas Day – pinned inside the wreckage of his truck, praying that someone would find him. On this episode of In Their Own Words, Matt shares the story of his fight for survival.

In this episode, we discussed suicide and depression. If you or someone you know is struggling with mental health, the National Suicide and Crisis Lifeline can be reached by calling or texting 9-8-8.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Wondery Plus subscribers can listen to Against the Odds early and ad-free right now.
0:05.6	Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts.
0:09.6	Just a note, this series contains references to suicide.
0:13.8	If you or someone you know is struggling with their mental health,
0:17.2	we have included resources at the end of the episode and in our show notes. Also,
0:22.4	this episode contains explicit language.
0:30.1	From Wondery, I'm Mike Corey, and this is against the odds in their own words.
0:44.8	In December of 2023, Matt Ream was enjoying life as a union boilermaker.
0:53.7	Just 27 years old, he traveled the country rebuilding power plants, refineries, and steel mills.
1:00.6	One night, he drove home to South Bend, Indiana, to pack a few things to attend a friend's
1:05.9	funeral in Missouri.
1:07.9	After that, he planned to hit the slopes in Colorado.
1:13.4	It was the week before Christmas,
1:21.8	and Matt found himself driving in the fog. After about a mile or so, that's when I see a flash of something in the road, and I think that I see a pair of eyes coming from a deer.
1:28.3	He swerved to avoid it.
1:31.3	That moment was all it took.
1:36.3	The impact itself shattered everything almost instantly,
1:41.3	so now it's just raining glass.
1:45.5	My name is Matthew Ream, and this is my story of how I beat the odds
1:50.2	and survived my truck for six days after a crash.
1:54.7	Here's Matt's story, in his own words.
1:57.8	This is trapped after a car crash.
	...

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